Hockliffe

      Coordinates: 51°55′52″N 0°35′11″W / 51.9311°N 0.5865°W / 51.9311; -0.5865

      Hockliffe
      Hockliffe is located in Bedfordshire
      Hockliffe

       Hockliffe shown within Bedfordshire
      Population 770 [1]
      OS grid reference SP972267
      Unitary authority Central Bedfordshire
      Ceremonial county Bedfordshire
      Region East
      Country England
      Sovereign state United Kingdom
      Post town LEIGHTON BUZZARD
      Postcode district LU7
      Dialling code 01525
      Police Bedfordshire
      Fire Bedfordshire and Luton
      Ambulance East of England
      EU Parliament East of England
      UK Parliament South West Bedfordshire
      List of places
      UK
      England
      Bedfordshire

      Hockliffe is a village and civil parish in Bedfordshire on the crossroads of the A5 road which lies upon the course of the Roman road known as Watling Street and the A4012 road.

      It is about four miles east of Leighton Buzzard. Nearby places are Heath and Reach, Eggington, Stanbridge, Battlesden, Toddington, Tebworth, and Tilsworth.

      Hockliffe is in Heath and Reach ward which sends a councillor to Central Bedfordshire Council. The ward includes the villages of Heath and Reach, Hockliffe, Eggington, Stanbridge, Tilsworth, Tebworth, and Wingrave. The ward was created in 2011 and has since been represented by Councillor Mark Versallion.[2]

      Clipstone Brook

      There was a term applied from the 18th century which was "as straight as Hockley Brook" because of the meandering bends of the said brook. The correct name of the brook is the Clipstone Brook. The first field (though in the parish of Chalgrave) is still known by locals as the Old Ride, due to the original crossing of the brook of the original Woburn Road the later road being constructed in the 19th century through to the second Battlesden road turning near to the village of Milton Bryan. The new Woburn Road is about a hundred yards to the west, from the said crossing and is now used by farm vehicles over a newer bridge. The secondfield was known as Horseshoe Corner as the brook was shaped like a horseshoe before it was straightened out by a farmer after World War II.

      Recently there have been regular sitings of The invasive signal crayfish, Pacifastacus leniusculus, within the Brook. it was noted in the local newspaper, The Leighton Buzzard Observer, that one was found inside a toy lobster during a clear out of a section of the Brook near Leighton Buzzard in 2009.

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      Hockliffe Radio Station

      During the Second World War a Czechoslovak military intelligence wireless transmission station was situated just outside Hockliffe.[3][4] The station was constructed by the Special Operations Executive in 1942 exclusively for Czech intelligence services. The station was used to contact Czech embassies in such countries as Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, and Turkey. Eleven men operated the station until June 1945, when they were able to return to their country.[5]

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      References

      1. ^ Bedfordshire County Council, Population Estimates and Forecasts, estimate for 2007.
      2. ^ http://www.luton-dunstable.co.uk/News/Mark-and-Ian-go-on-parade-with-the-Navy-17062011.htm
      3. ^ Neil Rees (compiler), The Secret History of The Czech Connection – The Czechoslovak Government in Exile in London and Buckinghamshire, England, 2005, ISBN 0-9550883-0-5.
      4. ^ Jean Yates and Sue King (compilers), Dunstable and District at War from Eyewitness Accounts, Book Castle, 2006, ISBN 1-903747-79-1, pages 276–283.
      5. ^ "Hockliffe Radio Station". Czechs in Exile. Czechoslovak Government in Exile Research Society. 24 March 2009. Retrieved 2009-07-10. 
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      Further reading

      • S. Coleman, Hockliffe, Bedfordshire County Council (Bedfordshire Parish Surveys, Historic Landscape and Archaeology, 1), 1983, ISBN 0-907041-08-6.
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      External links

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      Last modified on 28 February 2013, at 07:23